The pilots and crew of Air Force One are flying more hours than a rookie on a beer run. They are tired of it too, and are adding more crew to Air Force-1, – I know this for a fact because I’m one of the instructors that trains the crews. Our company (Atlas Air) has had the Air Force-1 and E-4 contract for over two years and I’ve been doing it for about 8 months now.

Last year (2010) Obama flew in Air Force One 172 times, almost every other day.

White House officials have been telling reporters in recent days that the Democrat doesn’t intend to hang around the White House quite so much in 2011. They explain he wants to get out more around the country because, as everyone knows, that midterm election shellacking on Nov. 2 had nothing to do with his health care bill, over-spending or other policies, and everything to do with Obama’s not adequately explaining himself to his countrymen and women.

And with only 673 days remaining in Obama’s never ending presidential campaign, the incumbent’s travel pace will not likely slacken.

At an Air Force-estimated cost of $181,757 per flight HOUR (not to mention the additional travel costs of Marine One, Secret Service, logistics and local police overtime), that’s a lot of frequent flier dollars going into Obama’s carbon footprint.

We are privy to some of these numbers thanks to CBS’ Mark Knoller, a bearded national treasure trove of presidential stats. According to Knoller’s copious notes, during the last year, Obama made 65 domestic trips over 104 days, and six trips to eight countries over 22 days. Not counting six vacation trips over 32 days.

He took 196 helicopter trips, signed 203 pieces of legislation and squeezed in 29 rounds of left-handed golf.

Obama last year gave 491 speeches, remarks or statements. That’s more talking than goes on in some entire families, at least from fatherly mouths.

In fact, even including the 24 days of 2010 that we never saw Obama in public, his speaking works out to about one official utterance every 11 waking hours. Aides indicate the “Real Good Talker” believes we need more.

Obama has spent over $100 million taxpayer dollars flying around in Air Force One, and probably another $100 million on his entourage. Obama is just another tin-pot dictator living lavishly at the expense of his subjects.

And we seniors have to “tighten our belts” because we aren’t getting a COLA again this year… and none last year!

Golfing While the Constitution Burns

Barack Obama has violated the Constitution’s war-making power – reserved byArticle I, Section 8,
to Congress – from the moment he sent American troops into harm’s way without
Congressional approval. He has been violating the War Powers Resolution since at
least the 60th day of that campaign. And he has violated the most
liberal reading of that act – the one Boehner has adopted as his own – since
this weekend. Yet despite the letter
Boehner authored last week, which the media presented as an “ultimatum,”
Obama has neither obtained Congressional authorization nor removed our troops.Boehner’s
letter weakly supplicated “I sincerely hope the Administration will
faithfully comply with the War Powers Resolution,” but at least it seemed to set
this weekend as a definitive cut-off point.

The “deadline” has come and gone, and Obama has not answered the most burning
questions of the mission’s legality to anyone’s satisfaction. Instead, the
president has thumbed his nose at Congress in general, Boehner in particular,
and the American people at large, and the Speaker-cum-caddy has made no
meaningful response whatsoever.

Obama insists the American role in Libya is too diminutive to constitute
“hostilities,” so his action is perfectly legal. White House spokesman Jay
Carney repeated
his boss’s party line at Monday’s press conference, stating, “the War Powers
Resolution does not need to be involved because the ‘hostilities’ clause of that
resolution is not met.” However, soldiers in Libya are receiving an additional$25
a month in “imminent danger pay.” American drones still rain missiles down
upon military targets. NATO is alternatelybombing
Muammar Qaddafi’s home and killing the innocent Libyan civilians they are
purportedly protecting. (We had to kill the civilians in order to save them?)
NATO admitted (at
least) one of its bombs went off target on Sunday, killing
nine civilians in Tripoli, while allied bombs allegedly killed
15 civilians in Sorman on Monday.

Even Obama’s short-term fellow Illinois Senator, Dick Durbin, agrees
Libya more than rises to the level of hostilities.

So, too, we have learned, do the best legal minds of Obama’s administration
(not a coveted nor much-contested title, I assure you). In overruling
his own lawyers, Obama rejected the
considered conclusions of Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel,
and Caroline Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal
Counsel (OLC). The New York Times reported
it is “extraordinarily rare” for any president to overrule the OLC. “Under
normal circumstances, the office’s interpretation of the law is legally binding
on the executive branch.”

But then, nothing in the Obama administration transpires under “normal
circumstances.”

Two former OLC lawyers outlined precisely how unusual the dismissal was….

Critics fear additional gay-oriented training would be an unnecessary added
burden for combat troops and encourage some to leave.

USDA officials have asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which
oversees all federal worker policies, to impose its gay-awareness programs on
all federal departments, according to an internal newsletter…

The push for the training is coming from Agriculture Secretary Thomas J.
Vilsack, former Democratic governor of Iowa. He has launched a department-wide
“Cultural Transformation” that includes the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
[LGBT] Special Emphasis Program.”

The USDA’s senior training coordinator, Bill Scaggs, has developed a
sensitivity program far more extensive than the Pentagon’s training for the
anticipated lifting of the ban on open homosexuals in the ranks…

The Agriculture Department described its program in an internal newsletter,
“My USDA: A Progress Report for Employees on USDA’s Cultural
Transformation”…

The newsletter adds: “Future collaborations with OPM are planned, with the
ultimate goal of having LGBT Special Emphasis Programs across the federal
government”…

On attempts to change someone from gay to straight, the briefing says:
“Usually doesn’t work and may even be harmful. Can produce feelings of
depression, hopelessness, shame and anxiety. Some people become suicidal”…

Twenty-Nine Reasons to Be Angry And/Or Scared

If you’re not both angry and scared
at the world’s current situation, you’re not paying attention.

Rained out from a planned and
anticipated golf game is not a good thing. As a result, I find myself confined
to the house and computer in a less than jovial mood and decided to list a few
problems in the world today. The list grew beyond my
intentions.

In no particular order, and hardly
complete, is the following enumerated list:

The Eurozone is imploding and likely
will be unable to hold in its present constitution, if at all.

Fiat currencies are being debased
rapidly in a “beggar thy neighbor” attempt to juice domestic economies.
Competitive devaluations provide no advantage when other countries match the
debauchery.

More money/debt/federal spending is
not economic policy if you view same as being able to fix or improve something.
Such action is merely political, a form of political propaganda to convince the
masses that the economy is improving. Temporarily propping up reported GDP may
provide better headlines, but does not create jobs.

The purpose of so-called quantitative
easing is to shore up bankrupt governments. The action itself is a form of
default, albeit in slow motion. Pretending to honor commitments while inflating
their value away is a criminal offense, but for government it passes for
economic policy.

Inflation has broken out around the
world, regardless of what government statistics say. Food and commodity prices
are soaring, and these hit the least well-off the hardest. Rising prices of
necessities serves to make them poorer and more desperate.

Citizen unrest around the world does
not reflect some idealistic demand for Democracy as claimed by our political
class and media. This unrest results from increasing hunger, loss of hope, and
desperation by people of the world. Food prices are being driven beyond their
ability to pay. They want something to eat, not some philosophy called
Democracy.

Unrest will grow worse as food,
energy and other necessities become more expensive. The unrest started in
poorer countries but, as prices continue to rise, will spread to more affluent
nations. Can “Democratic movements” occur in supposedly already democratic
societies?

The “outs” in oppressive societies
want to overthrow the “ins” in order to gain the right to plunder rather than be
plundered. Retribution also plays a role. In a very real sense, these
movements are little more than large-scale “gang wars” where one gang attempts
to gain “turf” at the expense of another. Each battles for the right to own and
exploit the “neighborhood.”

Western social welfare states are
broke and unable to honor their commitments. Sovereign defaults and austerity
measures are inevitable.

Citizens of social welfare states,
conditioned to believe they have the right to be supported by productive members
of society, will not accept austerity measures willingly. Rioting and bloodshed
will be most severe in the more pampered societies.

Political fear will prevent
meaningful corrective action. Governments will continue the charade of solvency
via continued printing of money. They know it will not improve the economy, but
it will enable them to continue to send out checks.

Inflation will ratchet up higher as a
result of money-printing. That will only exacerbate civil unrest as the poor
will be squeezed even more.

Developed economies are no longer
growing. Most have not had true economic growth for decades. Excessive debt
and easy credit were used to hide this reality in the US. It enabled living
standards not supportable by incomes. Now debt is unsustainable and cannot be
serviced.

A massive liquidation of debt is
coming. Some of it will be via contractual paydown. Some of it may be inflated
away, but most will be via default, producing numerous bankruptcies.

Job creation is a problem in all
Western developed countries. In the advanced social welfare states of Europe it
has been a chronic problem for decades. The US economy now suffers from the
sclerotic disease that characterizes Socialism.

Decades of increasing regulation on
business, employment, and incomes have finally taken their toll. These
interventions have resulted in an economic climate where obtaining a reasonable
return on investment is no longer perceived to be worth the increased risk
associated with it.

Entrepreneurs and businesses withhold
capital and refuse to hire in uncertain times.

Many businesses have voted with their
feet, moving jobs and capital offshore to escape onerous regulations and taxes.

The continuously increasing
redistribution of income means more has to be extracted from fewer producers to
support the growing dependency class. Anticipation of higher taxes reduces the
incentives to take risk, work hard, or employ more people. Economies do not
grow or recover under such circumstances.

GDP numbers are inflated by wasteful
government spending. But this spending is merely window-dressing. It creates
no new wealth, products, or productive jobs. It is another form of
redistribution that moves societies closer to bankruptcy. Despite a reported
increased in GDP, nothing has improved. That is one reason why GDP can increase
without employment increasing.

Central banks and their banking
systems are insolvent. The amount of insolvency is difficult to estimate but is
well into the trillions! Citizens have been looted to cover up this insolvency
and bail out Washington’s friends in the financial community. Sadly, all of
this has been for naught, as a collapse of fractional-reserve banking is
inevitable.

China is in an inflationary bubble
with massive misallocation of resources. Underreported
riots are breaking out in China where political unrest is a national sport.

China is the future economic world
power, but that future has not yet arrived. Its current economic condition is
likely not sustainable as a result of the distortions of central planning. It
is a house of cards, awaiting a collapse.

Political strife in China will become
severe when the economy implodes. How this turmoil is reconciled will determine
how quickly China recovers and rises to become a world economic power. The
political leaders and their apparatchiks will try to retain control with tougher
restrictions on citizens. Ultimately they will fail, but it will prevent the
true potential of China from being realized until free markets are embraced.
That could be several generations away.

The US and other Western democracies
have solved nothing regarding their economic problems. These countries,
including the US, are heading for currency and societal collapses.

The massive debt problems of Western
economies are mathematically impossible to solve. Massive defaults will have to
occur eventually.

Real economic recovery cannot occur
until the debt excesses are eliminated. Kicking the can down the road might be
considered good political strategy, but it is terribly harmful
economically.

The outlook for peace and tranquility
in the world is not good. Governments in danger of failing and falling
everywhere are not above using diversions to distract angry citizens. Some
countries will probably be treated to “wag the dog” endeavors. Desperate
scoundrels will stop at nothing to extend their reign in office.

I missed my golf game.

There is another item I could have
added to this list, but it is too complex and much bigger and scarier than those
above. It deals with the notion that most of the above problems do not result
from this particular economic crisis. To be sure, most were exposed as a result
of the current crisis, but that merely determined the timing of their
revelation. Something else, much bigger and more permanent seems to be at
play.

An economic crisis implies something
of a relatively short duration with an eventual return to whatever represents a
“normal” state. Recessions are cyclical. But so too was the Great Depression.
While it lasted longer and was more severe than a recession, conditions returned
to normal within a reasonable period of time.

What we are in, it appears to me, is
the beginning of a massive secular change that will alter the way we view
countries, economies and institutions. It is much bigger than an economic cycle
and likely will represent an epic movement in terms of history. The history
books a hundred or more years from now will recognize what happened more clearly
than contemporary participants will be able to do. The changes will be massive
and glacier-like in movement. No generation alive today will see the end of
this massive secular change.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio
Republican, is demanding that the Obama administration explain why it has passed
the deadline without seeking or getting congressional approval for the
Libyan campaign. The White House’s response: Get lost. The administration sent a
report to lawmakers defending the NATO-led Libyan war. For Mr. Obama, the War
Powers Act does not apply because U.S. forces apparently are not engaged in
“sustained hostilities” with troops loyal to strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
Moreover, U.S. air and missile strikes are only being conducted in a
“supporting” role. Hence, there is no need to have congressional buy-in.

This is postmodern humanitarian interventionism. According to the liberal
apparatchiks in the White House, Mr. Obama can bypass Congress simply by
redefining “hostilities.” War is no longer war. It is whatever Mr. Obama says it
is – or isn’t. George Orwell warned that the perversion of language is the first
step on the dark road to authoritarianism.

Mr.
Obama’s policy contravenes our national interest, is inept, immoral and
illegal. This is why members of Congress are in open revolt. A bipartisan
group of lawmakers led by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, and Rep.
Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, have filed a lawsuit demanding that
the courts force Mr. Obama to end the intervention in Libya. They are right. It
is time Congress reined in an out-of-control administration. There is a growing
alliance between conservative constitutionalists and anti-war liberals…

In addition, the hypocrisy of the liberal establishment is stunning. For
years, progressives, such as Mr. Obama, railed against President George W. Bush.
He was denounced as a “fascist” dictator and compared to Adolf Hitler for his
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Bush lied, people died,” went the slogan. Yet,
regardless of whether one supported those campaigns or not, Mr. Bush received
congressional authorization…

‘Obama’s Road to Nowhere’

“I’m not concerned about a double-dip
recession,” Obama said last week. Nor would I be if I had government housing, a
car and driver, and a social secretary for the missus. But I wonder if it’s such
a smart idea to let one’s breezy insouciance out of the bag when you’re giving a
press conference. In May the U.S. economy added just 54,000 jobs. For the
purposes of comparison, that same month over 100,000 new immigrants arrived in
America.

So what kind of jobs were those
54,000? Economics professorships at the University of Berkeley? Non-executive
directorships at Goldman Sachs? That sort of thing? No, according to an analysis
by Morgan Stanley, half the new jobs created were at McDonald’s. That’s amazing.
Not the Mickey D supersized hiring spree, but the fact that there’s fellows at
Morgan Stanley making a bazillion dollars a year analyzing fluctuations in
minimal-skill fast-food service-job hiring trends. What a great country! For as
long as it lasts. Which is probably until some new regulatory agency starts
enforcing Michelle Obama’s dietary admonitions.

[…]

A couple of days later, Chet’s
announced it was closing after nine decades. “It was the economy and the smoking
ban that hurt us more than anything,” said the owner. But maybe he can retrain
and re-open it as a community-organizer grantwriting-application center. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median period of unemployment is now
nine months – the longest it’s been since they’ve been tracking the numbers.
Long-term unemployment is worse than in the Depression. Life goes slowly waiting
for a fast-food job to open up.